Thanks guys - my 3.7 is up and running!

boltonranger

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
204
To all of you who chimed in on my cam seal replacement thread; a hearty thank you!
The repair is complete and there is no leak now.

As it turns out; one of my troubles was with the timing cover.
The cover had a slight warp and
As a result I could not put the cover on using both locating dowels.
(The starboard dowel cam OFF with the cover when I removed it which should have tipped me off.) Trying to replace the cover put enough force on the new cam seal that I ripped one as I slid the cover on.

I ALMOST did it a second time with two new seals. But as luck would have it I did not rip the seal (although I did indent it's surface it a little. At that point I decided to forge ahead with the seal as was; It was then that I noticed that the cover would "rock" slightly north to south and so I got an idea.

This time I removed the starboard dowel from the block BEFORE putting the cover on.
I installed the cover and put all the bolts in barely finger tight. Then I inserted the dowel into the cover and ever so gently tapped it into the block to achieve alignment.
Then I torqued the cover down.

She hasn't been in the water yet; our season is fading; but I've had it on the muffs and up to temperature (well, as much as you can on muffs). No leaks; etc. Although my heart skipped a beat when I saw coolant trickling off the front of the engine. No problem though - I just needed to tighten the hose clamp at the water pump.
Again; many thanks.
-br
 
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